Associate Director of Rapid Response

The Agency You’ll Join: The New York City Mayor’s Office is responsible for overseeing city services throughout the five boroughs, coordinating public agencies and departments, and managing public property. The administration is leading the fight in making the city more affordable, reducing inequality, improving public safety, ensuring delivery of efficient and effective services, and working to make New York City’s economy stronger. We value leadership, transparency, fairness, and efficiency as we actively seek diverse talents from various sectors to join our team. For current job opportunities, visit our careers page.

The Team You’ll Work With: The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) was established in 1984 and incorporated into the New York City Charter in 2001 to promote the economic, civic, and social integration of immigrant New Yorkers, expand access to justice, and advance policies that strengthen immigrant communities across the city.

MOIA serves as a bridge between city government and immigrant communities by advising on and supporting the development and implementation of policies and programs that improve access to services for immigrant New Yorkers and speakers of other languages. The office partners with City agencies and community organizations to strengthen language access, expand equitable access to services, and advance initiatives that support immigrant communities citywide.

To learn more, visit: https://www.nyc.gov/site/immigrants/ The Problems You’ll Solve: The Associate Director of Rapid Response plays a critical role in ensuring that MOIA is prepared to respond quickly, effectively, and in coordination with partners to emerging issues affecting immigrant New Yorkers.

This role leads the development and execution of MOIA’s rapid response function, including coordinating outreach, communications, and service delivery in response to time-sensitive situations such as federal enforcement actions, policy changes, and other urgent developments impacting immigrant communities.

Working closely with the Director of Community Engagement and senior leadership, the Associate Director ensures that MOIA’s response efforts are organized, aligned across teams, and grounded in accurate, timely information. The role also works across City agencies, community partners, and advocacy organizations to ensure that responses are coordinated and that affected communities receive clear information and access to support.

Specifically, the Associate Director of Rapid Response will:

• Lead the planning and execution of rapid response efforts related to emerging issues affecting immigrant communities.
• Coordinate across MOIA teams to align outreach, communications, and programmatic responses.
• Serve as a central point of coordination with City agencies and external partners during time-sensitive situations.
• Develop and maintain protocols, tools, and systems to support effective rapid response operations.
• Ensure that information shared with communities is accurate, timely, and culturally responsive.
• Identify trends and emerging risks and support proactive planning efforts.

Key Responsibilities: Program Rapid Response Leadership and Coordination

• Lead day-to-day management of MOIA’s rapid response function, ensuring readiness and effective execution.
• Coordinate cross-team efforts during active response situations, including outreach, communications, and service delivery.
• Serve as a key point of contact for internal and external stakeholders during rapid response efforts.

Strategy and Systems Development

• Develop and implement protocols, workflows, and tools to strengthen MOIA’s rapid response capacity.
• Establish systems for tracking incidents, responses, and outcomes.
• Identify opportunities to improve coordination, speed, and effectiveness of response efforts.

Interagency and External Coordination

• Coordinate with City agencies, community-based organizations, and advocacy partners to align response efforts.
• Support the development of joint response strategies and ensure consistent messaging and approach.

Community-Facing Response and Outreach

• Ensure that outreach efforts during rapid response situations are targeted, culturally responsive, and accessible.
• Support the dissemination of accurate information to affected communities through trusted channels.
• Work closely with community engagement teams to ensure alignment with ongoing outreach efforts.

Monitoring and Analysis

• Track emerging issues, enforcement trends, and policy developments affecting immigrant communities.
• Provide regular updates and analysis to inform leadership decision-making and proactive planning.

Staff Leadership and Support

• Supervise and support rapid response staff, including managers and/or organizers as applicable.
• Provide guidance and coordination to ensure consistent and effective response efforts across teams.

Flexibility and Additional Duties

• Undertake additional projects and responsibilities as needed to meet evolving organizational priorities.
• Support agency-wide initiatives and special projects as required.

About You: The ideal candidate is an experienced operator with a strong understanding of immigrant communities, public service systems, and the policy landscape affecting immigrant New Yorkers.

The successful candidate will have demonstrated experience managing time-sensitive initiatives, coordinating across multiple stakeholders, and operating effectively in high-pressure environments.

They will be a strong problem-solver and communicator with the ability to move quickly, exercise sound judgment, and ensure that complex efforts are executed with clarity and coordination.

Minimum Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree required; a master’s degree in a relevant field is preferred.
• 5+ years of relevant experience in public service, community engagement, policy, or a related field.

Additional Information

• In addition to the resume, a cover letter is required to apply.

Minimum Qualifications

• Do you have a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university?
• Do you have an associate degree from an accredited college or university along with two (2) years of experience with administrative, analytic, coordinative, supervisory or liaison responsibilities?
• Do you have a four-year high school diploma, or its educational equivalent approved by a state's Department of Education or a recognized accrediting organization along with four (4) years of experience as described in question "2" above?
• Do you have a satisfactory combination of education and/or experience equivalent to that described in questions "1," "2," and/or "3" above?

Preferred Skills

• You have experience managing projects or initiatives that require cross-team or cross-agency coordination.
• You have experience supervising staff.
• You have experience managing rapid response, crisis response, or time-sensitive initiatives.
• You have strong coordination and stakeholder management skills across government and community partners.
• You can operate effectively in fast-paced, high-pressure environments.
• You have strong organizational and project management skills.
• You can synthesize information quickly and communicate clearly.
• You have experience working with immigrant communities or in a public service context.
• You have strong judgment and decision-making skills.
• You have strong communication and stakeholder management skills.

Residency Requirement

New York City residency is generally required within 90 days of appointment. However, City Employees in certain titles who have worked for the City for 2 continuous years may also be eligible to reside in Nassau, Suffolk, Putnam, Westchester, Rockland, or Orange County. To determine if the residency requirement applies to you, please discuss with the agency representative at the time of the interview.